by Jayne Blue
“He won’t take my calls either. Sorry.”
“You know, maybe you’re not the smart sibling. Honey, he called you when I was sitting two inches next to you. Get him on the fucking phone.”
Daryl’s eyes flashed with menace and he came toward me again. He was done talking. In that split second, I tried to puzzle out what to do. Run? Scream? How about both. Except I didn’t get the chance to do either. A shadow moved over Daryl’s face, turning it dark as if something had eclipsed the sun. Another hand came over my shoulder and pushed Daryl back hard.
On instinct, I ducked and dodged to the side. Brax came between us, moving with the force of an avalanche.
Chapter Seven
Brax
Blood rage clouded my vision, turning everything around me red. Nicole’s lips were moving but no sound reached my ears. I saw that filthy prick’s hand come down hard on her shoulder and everything got real clear, real fast.
I got between her and the asshole. Fucking Hodges. His eyes went wide as he looked up at me. Yeah. I get that a lot. They see my size. They see the fury in my eyes. Sometimes that’s all it takes. This time though, I needed more.
“You bothering this lady?”
I had him by the shirt collar and pushed him against the red brick wall under the blinking green neon shamrock sign. Hodges’s face turned green and yellow from the light of it.
“We’re just having a conversation.” He puffed his chest out, growing bolder and dumber by the minute. He wasn’t wearing his cut and I think he realized the folly of that choice. If he had been, I wouldn’t be able to say this was some misunderstanding, that I didn’t know who he was. But I was wearing mine so there’d be no question how this might go down.
Keeping one hand on him, I looked over my shoulder at Nicole. Her mouth still gaped open and I hoped she’d be able to function. I should have known she was made of stronger stuff than most. “You done talking?” I asked her.
“I am,” she said and that steel I was starting to love made her eyes flash.
“Well, there you have it,” I said, turning back to the asshole. He was pissed to the point of white rage. A muscle in his jaw trembled and I knew it would only take a flinch from me and I could send him over the edge. He thought he was a fighter, this fuck nut. A part of me hoped he’d try something. But he was smarter than he looked by a hair. A very thin hair.
He put his hands up and plastered on a grin. “We good?”
“Well, that depends on you. You finished with your little business trip? You’ve got a long drive ahead of you so you’d better get started.”
That was as direct a reference to his association with the Red Brigands as I could probably dare to make. I pushed him further into the wall as I let him go. I had to bite the inside of my fucking mouth to keep from saying anything more about his club or Indiana. Again. Let this just seem like a misunderstanding for now. I’d given him the out if he was smart enough to take it. This was just personal so far, nothing that would have to involve either club. At least, not yet.
He nodded and straightened his shirt. I saw the handle of his Nine sticking out of his waistband. It took everything in me not to bounce his head off the damn brick for bringing it into my town. Jesus. Just two minutes ago, he’d had his filthy fucking hands on Nicole and a piece where he could reach it.
He shot a smirk toward Nicole and I think it was in him to say something else to her, but then he saw the look in my eyes and did his second smart thing in the span of thirty seconds. He stepped around her and kept on walking.
I ran a hand through my hair, tearing at the ends of it as I stood in that parking lot. Nicole stepped forward and started to say something, but I couldn’t hear it. Not yet. When I looked down and met her eyes, she got it.
“Let’s go,” I said. My bike was parked at an angle in front of the bar. I pulled my helmet and tossed it to her. Her eyes widened, but she caught it like a football, clutching it to her chest.
“Wear it,” I said, amazed that I could even put two words together. “Toss me your keys and I’ll send one of my guys back later for your car.” She hesitated, testing how far she could push me maybe. But, she recognized the stone cold look in my eyes and threw her keys to me underhanded. I raised a hand and caught them. Blood still roared in my ears and the urge to smash my fist against the brick wall made my body quake. She dropped her hip and pursed her lips together. I think it was in her to argue, but maybe she knew how that might go down. My hands clenched into fists at my sides as I fantasized about throwing her over my shoulder caveman style and hauling her ass out of there. I can’t help that I stiffened just thinking about it. Maybe that’s what she needed. A nice smack on the ass to punctuate my point.
Dammit, I swear this woman knew just what I was thinking. Her eyes flashed dark with an answering challenge. But she slid the helmet on, stepped around me, and straddled the back of my bike.
I got on in front of her and damn near lost my mind when she pressed her chest against my back and circled her arms around my waist. She’d done the same thing fifteen years ago and it had affected me exactly the same way. Only then, she’d balked when I slammed the gas down and revved the engine. That night, she’d changed her mind or lost her nerve and told me maybe some other time.
Well, that time was now. I felt Nicole squeeze her thighs against me when I tore off from the curb and sped through the intersection. I made a sharp turn toward the freeway on-ramp then let the throttle out. It was as if the traffic understood my fury and got the hell out of the way. This time of day, the road should have been packed, bumper to bumper. But right now, it was just me, the bike, and Nicole’s luscious thighs pressing against me as I drove with the fury of hell.
I felt her stiffen when I whizzed past the exit leading to The Den. That was too public. There’d be too many questioning stares. And I wanted her alone for the things I had to say. I made the turn down the winding road leading to my place. Pavement turned to gravel, and then to dirt. Woods closed in around us as I zoomed up the pine-dotted hill to the cabin I’d built high atop of it.
She was still gasping for air when I cut the engine. I didn’t know if it was from the speed of the ride or the view. It still took my breath away sometimes too. I’d built the house log-cabin style with huge pine beams. I had a two-story deck overlooking the pond and huge walls of glass on the north side of the house, so I could see the woods from all sides. I’d built it for myself, but everyone else had started calling this place The Wolf Lodge. Usually I had two or three prospects or hangers-on crashing with me, but everyone had cleared out this week. With Colt and Kellan gone, we needed all hands on deck up at The Den and at the gym.
Nicole peeled off the helmet and hung it over my handlebars. She put a hand to her cheek as she took in the house. Something warmed inside of me as I watched her.
“Is this . . . yours?”
God, how could she do that? One minute I wanted to throttle her and throw her over my knee, the next I just wanted to scoop her up and press her close to me. Right now, though, throttling seemed like the better idea.
“What the hell were you thinking?”
I crossed the distance between us and my fingers twitched with the urge to shake her. I wouldn’t put my hands on her though. No fucking way. Whatever else happened with the dickhead back at the bar, he’d scared her. I just hoped it had been enough to make her see sense now.
That fire flashed in her eyes and she crossed her arms in front of her. “You already know the answer to that. And if you brought me out here to lecture me, you can save your breath.”
“Save my breath!” I sputtered out the words, struggling to control the rage that simmered along with them. “Save my breath, she says. What do you think might have happened if I hadn’t gotten to you in time?”
She cocked her head. I became aware of her long legs beneath her ridiculous Easter-egg-colored green coat. She was probably still wearing the pink dress from the ice cream shop. While part of it stirred that teen
age fantasy I carried with me, it came with a new flash of horror knowing she’d waltzed into The Shires like that.
“Jesus, you might as well have just painted a bullseye on your forehead, Nicole.”
The wind kicked up making the pine trees sway. Strands of Nicole’s hair lifted and blew around her face where they weren’t tucked into the bun at the top of her head. As pissed as I was, I wanted to reach out and gently pull the rest of it loose. I wanted to do anything that would let me touch her. But she stood there, cold as ice except for that flinty fury in her eyes. She pulled the ends of her little coat tighter across her chest. Without thinking, I slid my leather cut off my shoulders and wrapped it around her shoulders. We weren’t in full spring yet, and the temperature dropped twenty degrees to nearly freezing as soon as the sun went down.
Nicole shivered and tilted her chin up to meet my eyes; I could see hers start to glisten. My fingers brushed against her cheek and her skin felt like ice.
“Jesus, you’re freezing. Let’s get you inside.”
She reached up and brushed a finger beneath her eyelid but turned her face before I could see whether a tear had fallen. I wanted to put my arm around her, but she stood with her back rod straight and her chin high. She wasn’t ready for me to touch her yet. I led her into the house.
Her eyes widened when she took in the great room. I had an open floor plan, the glass giving the illusion of invisible walls in front of the expanse of green forest surrounding the house. She walked toward the glass while I lit a quick fire in the fireplace. Her mouth dropped open as she saw the elk and moose heads I had mounted above the mantle.
With my cut still wrapped around her shoulders, she sank into one of the brown leather couches in front of the fire and let the flickering warmth reach her. She patted the space next to her, urging me to sit down. I was still too keyed up to do that. I rubbed my fingers hard across my chin and paced in front of the hearth.
“You know how fucking dangerous it was for you to walk into that back there? Do you?”
“Brax . . .”
I turned on her and held up a hand. She clamped her mouth shut but set her chin at a confrontational angle with her eyebrows raised.
“No. I mean it. You’re a smart girl but that was unbelievably stupid. What the hell do you think your brother Doug is really involved with?”
Her nostrils flared and she glowered at me. “You wouldn’t help me! It hasn’t even been twenty-four hours since you stormed out of my shop. And yet, here you are again. You want to be involved enough to tell me what to do, but not enough to be of actual use to me.”
I don’t know what the hell happened inside of me, but something snapped. As she looked at me with those cold eyes all I could see was the image of Daryl Hodges’s filthy fucking hands all over her. Then I imagined all of the things that could have happened if I hadn’t gotten to her in time. It was Ricky who called me. Thank God I’d been close. Hodges had that look about him I knew too well. It was the same look that stared back at me in the mirror when I used to get ready to do my club’s dirty work.
Nicole shifted on the couch. I don’t know. I think she might have started to get up to leave. But that white cloud of rage and fear filled my brain along with the images I couldn’t drive out. I saw her. A bullet in the back of her brain. Pleading with me with wide, fear-filled eyes as she begged Hodges to stop. But it only fueled his rage even more. I saw his fat-fingered fist as he bunched the lapels of her green coat and threw her to the ground.
In some back corner of my brain, I knew those things didn’t happen. Sure. They could have. And what I really saw were flashes of my own memory. Of things I’d done. Nicole’s face seemed superimposed on every dirtbag I’d had to bring mayhem to. I’d never hurt a woman. God, I’d never hurt her. I’d never hurt anyone who wasn’t as bad as I was or worse and that was how I got through each and every fucking day since. But that was me. Hodges was Hodges. And he could have taken Nicole away from me before I got the chance to have her again.
Then I was on my knees in front of her, caging her with my arms I clawed at the couch cushions on either side of her knees. “What were you thinking? What the fuck were you thinking? Do you know how bad that could have got? He knew you, didn’t he? Probably knew your name before you told it to him. Guys like him have one goal. Get the payment. Send the message.”
She flinched but didn’t shrink away from me. She raised a hand and her fingers fluttered near my face for an instant, then she closed her fist and brought it back into her lap. She was afraid. Afraid of me. I let her see something in my eyes. The Enforcer. The Monster.
A single tear fell from her left eye and she looked toward the ceiling. “Brax, they’re going to kill him.” It was a question and a conclusion. Her voice grew thick with emotion as she said it.
Yeah. She’d been stupid. Reckless. But she’d gone to that bar in desperation right after I turned my back on her.
“They’re going to kill him. And that man knew who I was. You were right. So it doesn’t matter whether I went into that crap hole bar or not. If I hadn’t, he would have come found me anyway. Right?”
A shudder went through me and I clenched my jaw hard enough I saw stars for an instant. I wanted to tell her she was wrong. That everything would be all right. Except I couldn’t. If Doug Ridley had the Red Brigands after him, she was right. They’d use her to get to him eventually. That club broke rules most never would. Family and women were supposed to be off limits.
I straightened my back. Even on my knees, she had to tilt her head to keep my gaze. And she did keep it, her eyes filled with a strange mixture of trust and fear. My heart felt hollow knowing I’d only earned one of those emotions from her so far.
“Please,” she said. “I’m asking you again. Please. Help me.”
I knew I should turn her away. I could tell myself I was different. My club had changed. But the truth was, I knew what was inside of me. When the time came again, and it always did, I’d be the thing someone else’s innocent sister feared.
But Nicole didn’t back away. She rose slowly to her feet, leaving me on my knees in front of her. It was my turn to look up at her. She held her hands out again; those tentative fingers hovered near my face. Then she threaded them through my hair, sending a shudder of electricity straight down my spine. I pulled her to me, circling my arms around the back of her legs. She curved her body around mine, leaning down until her lips touched the top of my head and she kissed me.
Chapter Eight
Nicole
I froze. Suspended in time with Brax on his knees before me, pulling him close. He’d tried to scare me. Show me the darkest parts of himself. I should have run. I should have seen that maybe he was just another side of the same coin that led my brother into trouble. And yet, when Brax tilted his head and looked up at me, my heart seemed to break with his and for his in a thousand jagged pieces.
I sank to the floor in front of him and we stayed like that, nearly nose to nose for what seemed both an instant and an eternity. Finally, Brax slowly rose and held out his hand toward mine.
“Come on,” he said, his voice ragged with an emotion I couldn’t quite place. “You need a drink and so do I.”
I let out a little laugh and took his hand. He led me into the kitchen on the far side of the room. This place. His place shocked and thrilled me. He’d built himself a fortress on the side of the hill overlooking dense forest and a small pond. He hadn’t told me, but I imagined each finished pine beam had been placed there with his own two hands. I didn’t claim to know him well. Not fifteen years ago, not now. And yet, I felt him in this house and its rugged, rustic charm.
“I’m amazed,” I said as I slid onto one of the high-backed bar stools at the kitchen island. Brax had copper pots hanging from hooks attached to a massive light fixture adorned with curving antlers. I imagined him cooking with those pots and a new spark lit within me. This man was full of mysteries. Some dark and dangerous, some wonderful. “You built this yoursel
f.”
Brax nodded as he reached under a shelf on the island and pulled out a label-less bottle of red wine and two stemless glasses. He uncorked it and poured a glass for me. It was smooth going down, but with a kick of spice I couldn’t place. It was delicious and strong and warmed me from the inside out. I raised the glass and took another sip.
“So you’re a builder, a bar owner, and a vintner?”
Brax shrugged. “It’s just a hobby. I’ve been thinking about introducing a label for the bar.”
I set my glass down and looked at this man in yet another new light. One I was tempted to like very much. But I couldn’t forget what had brought me to him and what had happened all those years ago when I gave into passion that seemed to burn me from the inside out.
Brax sat down on the chair next to mine, turning it so he straddled it backward. He poured me another glass though I hadn’t quite emptied the first one. If I finished it, I’d be buzzed hard. Sensing my reservation, he set the bottle down.
“We need to have a real talk, Nicole. And I think you need to make time for it.”
I looked out the bay window. Full dark had fallen. It had to be well past dinner. God, I’d left Melinda and the others alone in the parlor. “I have to make a phone call,” I said, reaching into my pocket. I rose from the table and walked toward the window for a little bit of privacy.
Melinda answered on the third ring and I could hear the laughter and clinking glass of a full floor behind her. The after-dinner crowd was in full swing. Melinda hesitated when I asked her if she could handle closing without me. It was something I’d never done in the history of the shop. But she was more than capable and I trusted her. Thanking her for what seemed like the thousandth time, I clicked off the call and turned back toward Brax. He’d filled my glass again.
I don’t know what dark magic happened that night. But as I sat with Brax at that white granite-topped island and looked into the deep pools of his blue eyes, I let my guard down. When he asked the question everyone always asked, I didn’t give him a shrug and my shielding smile.
